the 20th, in relation to some Passages in a
Lover
, will be more particular in her Directions, I shall be so in my Answer.
The poor Gentleman, who fancies my Writings could reclaim an Husband who can abuse such a Wife as he describes, has I am afraid too great an Opinion of my Skill.
Philanthropos
is, I dare say, a very well-meaning Man, but a little too prolix in his Compositions.
Constantius
himself must be the best Judge in the Affair he mentions.
The Letter dated from
Lincoln
is received.
Arethusa
and her Friend may hear further from me.
Celia
is a little too hasty.
Harriot
is a good Girl, but must not Curtsie to Folks she does not know.
I must ingeniously confess my Friend
Sampson Bentstaff
has quite puzzled me, and writ me a long Letter which I cannot comprehend one Word of.
Collidan
must also explain what he means by his
Drigelling.
I think it beneath my
Spectatorial
Dignity, to concern my self in the Affair of the boiled Dumpling.
I shall consult some
Litterati
on the Project sent me for the Discovery of the Longitude.
I know not how to conclude this Paper better, than by inserting a Couple of Letters which are really genuine, and which I look upon to be two of the smartest Pieces I have received from my Correspondents of either Sex.
BrotherSpec.'While you are surveying every Object that falls in your way, I am wholly taken up with one. Had that Sage, who demanded what Beauty was, lived to see the dear Angel I love, he would not have asked such a Question. Had another seen her, he would himself have loved the Person in whom Heaven has made Virtue visible; and were you your self to be in her ompany, you could never, with all your Loquacity, say enough of her good Humour and Sense. I send you the Outlines of a Picture, which I can no more finish than I can sufficiently admire the dear Original. I amYour most Affectionate Brother,Constantio Spec.Good Mr.Pert,'I will allow you nothing till you resolve me the following Question. Pray what's the Reason that while you only talk now uponWednesdays, Fridays, andMondays, you pretend to be a greater Tatler, than when you spoke every Day as you formerly used to do? If this be your plunging out of your Taciturnity, pray let the Length of your Speeches compensate for the Scarceness of them.I am,Good Mr.Pert,Your Admirer, if you will be long enough for Me,
Contents
—Tenet insanabile multosScribendi Cacœthes—Juv.translation
There is a certain Distemper, which is mentioned neither by
Galen
nor
Hippocrates
, nor to be met with in the
London Dispensary
.
Juvenal
, in the Motto of my Paper, terms it a
Cacœthes
; which is a hard Word for a Disease called in plain
English
, the
Itch of Writing.
This
Cacœthes
is as Epidemical as the Small-Pox, there being very few who are not seized with it some time or other in their Lives. There is, however, this Difference in these two Distempers, that the first, after having indisposed you for a time, never returns again; whereas this I am speaking of, when it is once got into the Blood, seldom comes out of it. The
British
Nation is very much afflicted with this Malady, and tho' very many Remedies have been applied to Persons infected with it, few of them have ever proved successful. Some have been cauterized with Satyrs and Lampoons, but have received little or no Benefit from them; others have had their Heads fastned for an Hour together between a Cleft Board, which is made use
of
as a Cure for the Disease when it appears in its greatest Malignity
1
. There is indeed one kind of this Malady which has been sometimes removed, like the Biting of a
Tarantula
, with the sound of a musical Instrument, which is commonly known by the Name of a Cat-Call. But if you have a Patient of this kind under your Care, you may assure your self there is no other way of recovering him effectually, but by forbidding him the use of Pen, Ink and Paper.
But to drop the Allegory before I have tired it out, there is no Species of Scriblers more offensive, and more incurable, than your Periodical Writers, whose Works return upon the Publick on certain Days and at stated Times. We have not the Consolation in the Perusal of these Authors, which we find at the reading of all others, (namely) that we are sure if we have but Patience, we may come to the End of their Labours. I have often admired a humorous Saying of
Diogenes
, who reading a dull Author to several of his Friends, when every one began to be tired, finding he was almost come to a blank leaf at the End of it, cried,
Courage, Lads, I see Land
. On the contrary, our Progress through that kind of Writers I am now speaking of is never at an End. One Day makes Work for another, we do not know when to promise our selves Rest.
It is a melancholy thing to consider, that the Art of Printing, which might be the greatest Blessing to Mankind, should prove detrimental to us, and that it should be made use of to scatter Prejudice and Ignorance through a People, instead of conveying to them Truth and Knowledge.
I was lately reading a very whimsical Treatise, entitled,
William Ramsey's
Vindication of Astrology. This profound Author, among many mystical Passages, has the following one:
The Absence of the Sun is not the Cause of Night, forasmuch as his Light is so great that it may illuminate the Earth all over at once as clear as broad Day, but there are tenebrificous and dark Stars, by whose Influence Night is brought on, and which do ray out Darkness and Obscurity upon the Earth, as the Sun does Light.
I consider Writers in the same View this sage Astrologer does the Heavenly Bodies. Some of them are Stars that scatter Light as others do Darkness. I could mention several Authors who are tenebrificous Stars of the first Magnitude, and point out a Knot of Gentlemen, who have been dull in Consort, and may be looked upon as a dark Constellation. The Nation has been a great while benighted with several of these Antiluminaries. I suffered them to ray out their Darkness as long as I was able to endure it, till at length I came to a Resolution of rising upon them, and hope in a little time to drive them quite out of the
British
Hemisphere.
Footnote 1:
Put in the Pillory.
return to footnote mark
Contents
Ipse thymum pinosque ferens de montibus altis,Tecta serat latè circum, cui talia Curæ:Ipse labore manum duro terat, ipse feracesFigat humo plantas, et amicos irriget Imbres.Virg.translation
Every Station of Life has Duties which are proper to it. Those who are determined by Choice to any particular kind of Business, are indeed more happy than those who are determined by Necessity, but both are under an equal Obligation of fixing on Employments, which may be either useful to themselves or beneficial to others. No one of the Sons of
Adam
ought to think himself exempt from that Labour and Industry which were denounced to our first Parent, and in him to all his Posterity. Those to whom Birth or Fortune may seem to make such an Application unnecessary, ought to find out some Calling or Profession for themselves, that they may not lie as a Burden on the Species, and be the only useless Parts of the Creation.
Many of our Country Gentlemen in their busie Hours apply themselves wholly to the Chase, or to some other Diversion which they find in the Fields and Woods. This gave occasion to one of our most eminent
English
Writers to represent every one of them as lying under a kind of Curse pronounced to them in the Words of
Goliah, I will give thee to the Fowls of the Air, and to the Beasts of the Field.
Tho' Exercises of this kind, when indulged with Moderation, may have a good Influence both on the Mind and Body, the Country affords many other Amusements of a more noble kind.
Among these I know none more delightful in itself, and beneficial to the Publick, than that of
Planting.
I could mention a Nobleman whose Fortune has placed him in several Parts of
England
, and who has always left these visible Marks behind him, which show he has been there: He never hired a House in his Life, without leaving all about it the Seeds of Wealth, and bestowing Legacies on the Posterity of the Owner. Had all the Gentlemen of
England
made the same Improvements upon their Estates, our whole Country would have been at this time as one great Garden. Nor ought such an Employment to be looked upon as too inglorious for Men of the highest Rank. There have been Heroes in this Art, as well as in others. We are told in particular of
Cyrus
the Great, that he planted all the Lesser
Asia.
There is indeed something truly magnificent in this kind of Amusement: It gives a nobler Air to several Parts of Nature; it fills the Earth with a Variety of beautiful Scenes, and has something in it like Creation. For this Reason the Pleasure of one who Plants is something like that of a Poet, who, as
Aristotle
observes, is more delighted with his Productions than any other Writer or Artist whatsoever.
Plantations have one Advantage in them which is not to be found in most other Works, as they give a Pleasure of a more lasting Date, and continually improve in the Eye of the Planter, When you have finished a Building or any other Undertaking of the like Nature, it immediately decays upon your Hands; you see it brought to its utmost Point of Perfection, and from that time hastening to its Ruin. On the contrary, when you have finished your Plantations, they are still arriving at greater Degrees of Perfection as long as you live, and appear more delightful in every succeeding Year than they did in the foregoing.
But I do not only recommend this Art to Men of Estates as a pleasing Amusement, but as it is a kind of Virtuous Employment, and may therefore be inculcated by moral Motives; particularly from the Love which we ought to have for our Country, and the Regard which we ought to bear to our Posterity. As for the first, I need only mention what is frequently observed by others, that the Increase of Forest-Trees does by no Means bear a Proportion to the Destruction of them, insomuch that in a few Ages the Nation may be at a Loss to supply it self with Timber sufficient for the Fleets of
England.
I know when a Man talks of Posterity in Matters of this Nature, he is looked upon with an Eye of Ridicule by the cunning and selfish part of Mankind. Most People are of the Humour of an old Fellow of a College, who, when he was pressed by the Society to come into something that might redound to the good of their Successors, grew very peevish,
We are always doing
, says he,
something for Posterity, but I would fain see Posterity do something for us.
But I think Men are inexcusable, who fail in a Duty of this Nature, since it is so easily discharged. When a Man considers that the putting a few Twigs into the Ground, is doing good to one who will make his appearance in the World about Fifty Years hence, or that he is perhaps making one of his own Descendants easy or rich, by so inconsiderable an Expence, if he finds himself averse to it, he must conclude that he has a poor and base Heart, void of all generous Principles and Love to Mankind.
There is one Consideration, which may very much enforce what I have here said. Many honest Minds that are naturally disposed to do good in the World, and become Beneficial to Mankind, complain within themselves that they have not Talents for it. This therefore is a good Office, which is suited to the meanest Capacities, and which may be performed by Multitudes, who have not Abilities sufficient to deserve well of their Country and to recommend themselves to their Posterity, by any other Method. It is the Phrase of a Friend of mine, when any useful Country Neighbour dies, that
you may trace him:
which I look upon as a good Funeral Oration, at the Death of an honest Husbandman, who hath left the Impressions of his Industry behind him, in the Place where he has lived.
Upon the foregoing Considerations, I can scarce forbear representing the Subject of this Paper as a kind of Moral Virtue: Which, as I have already shown, recommends it self likewise by the Pleasure that attends it. It must be confessed, that this is none of those turbulent Pleasures which is apt to gratifie a Man in the Heats of Youth; but if it be not so Tumultuous, it is more lasting. Nothing can be more delightful than to entertain ourselves with Prospects of our own making, and to walk under those Shades which our own Industry has raised. Amusements of this Nature compose the Mind, and lay at Rest all those Passions which are uneasie to the Soul of Man, besides that they naturally engender good Thoughts, and dispose us to laudable Contemplations. Many of the old Philosophers passed away the greatest Parts of their Lives among their Gardens.
Epicurus
himself could not think sensual Pleasure attainable in any other Scene. Every Reader who is acquainted with
Homer, Virgil
and
Horace
, the greatest Genius's of all Antiquity, knows very well with how much Rapture they have spoken on this Subject; and that
Virgil
in particular has written a whole Book on the Art of Planting.
This Art seems to have been more especially adapted to the Nature of Man in his Primaeval State, when he had Life enough to see his Productions flourish in their utmost Beauty, and gradually decay with him. One who lived before the Flood might have seen a Wood of the tallest Oakes in the Accorn. But I only mention this Particular, in order to introduce in my next Paper, a History which I have found among the Accounts of
China
, and which may be looked upon as an Antediluvian Novel.
Contents
Hec gelidi fontes, hic mollia prata, Lycori,Hic Nemus, hic toto tecum consumerer ævo.Virg.translation
Hilpa
was one of the 150 Daughters of
Zilpah
, of the Race of
Cohu
, by whom some of the Learned think is meant
Cain
. She was exceedingly beautiful, and when she was but a Girl of threescore and ten Years of Age, received the Addresses of several who made Love to her. Among these were two Brothers,
Harpath
and
Shalum
;
Harpath
, being the First-born, was Master of that fruitful Region which lies at the Foot of Mount
Tirzah
, in the Southern Parts of
China
.
Shalum
(which is to say the Planter in the
Chinese
Language) possessed all the neighbouring Hills, and that great Range of Mountains which goes under the Name of
Tirzah
.
Harpath
was of a haughty contemptuous Spirit;
Shalum
was of a gentle Disposition, beloved both by God and Man.
It is said that, among the Antediluvian Women, the Daughters of
Cohu
had their Minds wholly set upon Riches; for which Reason the beautiful
Hilpa
preferr'd
Harpath
to
Shalum
, because of his numerous Flocks and Herds, that covered all the low Country which runs along the Foot of Mount
Tirzah
, and is watered by several Fountains and Streams breaking out of the Sides of that Mountain.
Harpath
made so quick a Dispatch of his Courtship, that he married
Hilpa
in the hundredth Year of her Age; and being of an insolent Temper, laughed to Scorn his Brother
Shalum
for having pretended to the beautiful
Hilpa
, when he was Master of nothing but a long Chain of Rocks and Mountains. This so much provoked
Shalum
, that he is said to have cursed his Brother in the Bitterness of his Heart, and to have prayed that one of his Mountains might fall upon his Head if ever he came within the Shadow of it.
From this Time forward
Harpath
would never venture out of the Vallies, but came to an untimely End in the 250th Year of his Age, being drowned in a River as he attempted to cross it This River is called to this Day, from his Name who perished in it, the River
Harpath
, and, what is very remarkable, issues out of one of those Mountains which
Shalum
wished might fall upon his Brother, when he cursed him in the Bitterness of his Heart.
Hilpa
was in the 160th Year of her Age at the Death of her Husband, having brought him but 50 Children, before he was snatched away, as has been already related. Many of the Antediluvians made Love to the young Widow, tho' no one was thought so likely to succeed in her Affections as her first Lover
Shalum
, who renewed his Court to her about ten Years after the Death of
Harpath
; for it was not thought decent in those Days that a Widow should be seen by a Man within ten Years after the Decease of her Husband.
Shalum
falling into a deep Melancholy, and resolving to take away that Objection which had been raised against him when he made his first Addresses to
Hilpa
, began immediately, after her Marriage with
Harpath
, to plant all that mountainous Region which fell to his Lot in the Division of this Country. He knew how to adapt every Plant to its proper Soil, and is thought to have inherited many traditional Secrets of that Art from the first Man. This Employment turn'd at length to his Profit as well as to his Amusement: His Mountains were in a few Years shaded with young Trees, that gradually shot up into Groves, Woods, and Forests, intermixed with Walks, and Launs, and Gardens; insomuch that the whole Region, from a naked and desolate Prospect, began now to look like a second Paradise. The Pleasantness of the Place, and the agreeable Disposition of
Shalum
, who was reckoned one of the mildest and wisest of all who lived before the Flood, drew into it Multitudes of People, who were perpetually employed in the sinking of Wells, the digging of Trenches, and the hollowing of Trees, for the better Distribution of Water through every Part of this spacious Plantation.
The Habitations of
Shalum
looked every Year more beautiful in the Eyes of
Hilpa
, who, after the Space of 70 Autumns, was wonderfully pleased with the distant Prospect of
Shalum
's Hills, which were then covered with innumerable Tufts of Trees and gloomy Scenes that gave a Magnificence to the Place, and converted it into one of the finest Landskips the Eye of Man could behold.
The
Chinese
record a Letter which
Shalum
is said to have written to
Hilpa
, in the Eleventh Year of her Widowhood. I shall here translate it, without departing from that noble Simplicity of Sentiments, and Plainness of Manners which appears in the Original.
Shalum
was at this Time 180 Years old, and
Hilpa
170.
Shalum,Master of MountTirzah,toHilpa,Mistress of the Vallies.In the 788th Year of the Creation.'What have I not suffered, O thou Daughter ofZilpah, since thou gavest thy self away in Marriage to my Rival? I grew weary of the Light of the Sun, and have been ever since covering my self with Woods and Forests. These threescore and ten Years have I bewailed the Loss of thee on the Tops of MountTirzah, and soothed my Melancholy among a thousand gloomy Shades of my own raising. My Dwellings are at present as the Garden of God; every Part of them is filled with Fruits, and Flowers, and Fountains. The whole Mountain is perfumed for thy Reception. Come up into it, O my Beloved, and let us People this Spot of the new World with a beautiful Race of Mortals; let us multiply exceedingly among these delightful Shades, and fill every Quarter of them with Sons and Daughters. Remember, O thou Daughter ofZilpah,that the Age of Man is but a thousand Years; that Beauty is the Admiration but of a few Centuries. It flourishes as a Mountain Oak, or as a Cedar on the Top ofTirzah, which in three or four hundred Years will fade away, and never be thought of by Posterity, unless a young Wood springs from its Roots. Think well on this, and remember thy Neighbour in the Mountains.
Having here inserted this Letter, which I look upon as the only Antediluvian
Billet-doux
now extant, I shall in my next Paper give the Answer to it, and the Sequel of this Story.
Contents
Ipsi lætitia voces ad sidera jactantIntonsi montes: ipsæ jam carmina rupes,Ipsæ sonant arbusta—Virg.translation
The Sequel of the Story of
Shalum
and
Hilpa.
The Letter inserted in my last had so good an Effect upon
Hilpa,
that she answered it in less than a Twelvemonth, after the following Manner.
Hilpa,Mistress of the Vallies, toShalum,Master of MountTirzah.In the 789th Year of the Creation.'What have I to do with thee, OShalum?Thou praisestHilpa's Beauty, but art thou not secretly enamoured with the Verdure of her Meadows? Art thou not more affected with the Prospect of her green Vallies, than thou wouldest be with the Sight of her Person? The Lowings of my Herds, and the Bleatings of my Flocks, make a pleasant Eccho in thy Mountains, and sound sweetly in thy Ears. What tho' I am delighted with the Wavings of thy Forests, and those Breezes of Perfumes which flow from the Top ofTirzah:Are these like the Riches of the Valley?'I know thee, OShalum;thou art more wise and happy than any of the Sons of Men. Thy Dwellings are among the Cedars; thou searchest out the Diversity of Soils, thou understandest the Influences of the Stars, and markest the Change of Seasons. Can a Woman appear lovely in the Eyes of such a one? Disquiet me not, OShalum;let me alone, that I may enjoy those goodly Possessions which are fallen to my Lot. Win me not by thy enticing Words. May thy Trees increase and multiply; mayest thou add Wood to Wood, and Shade to Shade; but tempt notHilpato destroy thy Solitude, and make thy Retirement populous.
The
Chinese
say, that a little time afterwards she accepted of a Treat in one of the neighbouring Hills to which
Shalum
had invited her. This Treat lasted for two Years, and is said to have cost
Shalum
five hundred Antelopes, two thousand Ostriches, and a thousand Tun of Milk; but what most of all recommended it, was that Variety of delicious Fruits and Pot-herbs, in which no Person then living could any way equal